Traci,
Just recently I was working with one of our PastPerfect customers who
were using a unique number for each donor. The problem they are having
is that donor #14, John Doe, married Donor #23, Jane. Now as a couple
they were donating items, but what number to use? If you let your
imagination go from there, you can imagine how complex things can get
when talking about multiple donors that are not related etc.
Most of our clients use the year, 2003, followed by the accession for
that year, 15, followed by the object number within that accession.
2003.15.3 is the third item of the 15th accession in 2003. If you want
to know who gave it, go look at the accession records.
I highly recommend the book "Registration Methods for the Small Museum"
by Daniel B Reibel. Reibel dedicate a fair portion of his book to this
topic. I think you can order it online at www.altamirapress.com and I
believe they are still having their summer sale.
Brian L. Gomez
Vice President, Operations
Pastime Software Company, Inc.
300 N. Pottstown Pike, Suite 200
Exton, PA 19341
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Toll-free support and sales: 800-562-6080
Fax: 610-363-7845
Direct Dial: 610-363-7844
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Traci Langworthy
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 10:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: numbering system for small historical society
Hello,
I am a trustee for a small historical society in upstate NY that is just
beginning to formally accession the various items it has acquired since
its
establishment in 2000. I am spearheading the process and hope I might
get
some advice from the get-go on the best way to number our objects. I
thought it would be a no-brainer to go with the simple 3-number system I
have read about and seen in use. But, in pondering (perhaps too much!)
about it, I have been considering a couple of options for the middle
number
referring to the donor/source, especially. It made sense to me,
initially,
to have a unique number for each donor/source that would be used again
and
again in future years (if or when they donated other artifacts). Has any
other small institution tried this and found success/failure? From what
I
can tell, it seems most institutions wipe the slate clean and begin with
#1
again each year. Any thoughts are much appreciated!
Thanks very much,
Traci Langworthy
Sheridan, NY Historical Society
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